Seagliders Break Endurance Records

Roland Piquepaille writes, "Ocean-diving Seagliders built at the
University of Washington (UW) just broke endurance
records. Two of these Seagliders, which are 1.8 m long and weigh 52
kg, were launched last September between California and Hawaii and
reached the island of Kauai after 191 days in a trip of 1,860 miles.
Both Seagliders did more than 500 dives down to 1,000 m during their
trips. When a Seaglider
reaches the surface, where it stays for only five minutes, it determines
its position via GPS, uploads its data and downloads its new
instructions via satellite. Meanwhile, two other Seagliders are still
somewhere in the Labrador Sea for more than 193 days now and have yet to
be retrieved." For more details and photos, see Roland's blog entry.